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Warren Ruda / The Citizens' Voice
Wilkes-Barre city firefighters battle a blaze at a 323Â½ Park Ave. apartment on Wednesday. Investigators say they will look to see if there is a link to a gasoline odor tenants reported smelling in the days leading up to the fire.

WILKES-BARRE - Two days after the tenants of a Wilkes-Barre apartment say they complained about a gasoline smell wafting through their building, a fast-moving arson fire tore through and destroyed the property, city officials say.

They didn't think much of it at first, but then smoke started rising though the floor. At that point, they had to escape - and fast.

"You see that smoke coming up. In literally three seconds, it was dark grey. The smoke met us at the stairs," Hall said, noting they fled down a staircase through thick smoke. "I got smoke in my lungs right now."

After hours of investigating, city fire officials ruled the fire arson, but didn't offer details about how they believe the fire was set, only saying it appeared to have started in the back of the home. Investigators say they will look to see if there is a link to the gasoline odor the tenants had smelled in the days leading up to the fire.

Wilkes-Barre Fire Chief Jay Delaney said the fire was so intense that crews decided to fight it only from the outside.

"Our crews did an initial interior attack. Conditions got too bad and there was too much fire. We pulled the firefighters out and went into a defensive mode from the exterior," Delaney said. "That's why the fire took a while to get extinguished."

Asked why he thought the conditions were so bad, Delaney responded, "I don't want to get too much into the investigation. There was just too much fire."

Hall and Youmans said police and fire officials told them a basement door had been forced open, but officials wouldn't comment about that.

"There was a break-in and everything. There's a lot going on," landlord Keith Scott, owner of Viking Enterprises in Exeter, said in a hurried phone call. He declined to comment further, saying he'll know and say more in coming days.

Hall and Youmans say they have a 4-year-old daughter, Essence, who was staying with Hall's mother in Wilkes-Barre the past several days because of a lingering gas smell in the two-unit property. Their other daughters, ages 13 and 15, were at school.

Hall said he called UGI Natural Gas officials to investigate the odor on Monday. He said a company employee, wearing a protective suit and gas mask, inspected the two-unit property with a gas detecting meter and determined the odor was not natural gas.

"We smelled gas. So we called UGI. The guy came, put on this suit and had the machine. He said, 'No, this is not our gas. This is gasoline, like flammable gasoline,'" Hall said. "The UGI guy said, 'You got to report this.'"

Hall said he reported the smell to Scott on Monday, who inspected the house Tuesday.

"We met here. He comes in. He says he definitely smells gas. He says, 'Listen, just keep your windows open. I'll keep a window open down here and â¦ take care," Hall said.

Hall said that during the inspection, Scott also discovered someone had vandalized a vacant first-floor apartment, writing threatening words on walls with spray paint.

"He wasn't upset, Not alarmed. Not even surprised," Hall said. "He never made a complaint or nothing."

Wilkes-Barre city spokesman Drew McLaughlin said that the landlord had not made any complaints to city building inspectors about the gas smell, though he would not be required to do so. McLaughlin noted the tenants could have made complaints to the city about unhealthy living conditions, but also did not do so.

It was not clear if Scott logged a complaint with city police about the vandalism. He repeatedly declined to answer questions in Wednesday's brief phone call.

City officials say the property is being scheduled for demolition as soon as possible. The city will solicit quotes from three contractors tomorrow morning, and bids on the project are due back by 3:30 p.m., McLaughlin said.

No matter how and why the fire was set, the family of five is thankful they are alive.

Youmans works at a manufacturing plant in Wright Township, and just arrived home after working the overnight shift. If the fire occurred later, she might have been asleep, Hall said.

Hall who said he works two jobs - as a traffic flagman and also as a janitor - noted the loss of everything they own is difficult to absorb. Among the things burned up inside the home was his income tax rebate check he recently got in the mail.

"I don't even feel like a human being. I can't even provide for my kids," Hall said, tears coming from his eyes as he sought warmth inside a Park Avenue deli while firefighters battled the blaze. "We lost everything."

Denise Allabaugh, staff writer, contributed to this report.

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

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